John Longmuir

Tenor

One of Australia’s brightest young tenors, John Longmuir was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied at the Australian Opera Studio where he graduated with Merit in 2008. In 2009, he moved to Europe where performance highlights included Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Berliner Cappella, Fauré’s La Naissance de Venus at the Konzerthaus, Berlin as well as concert appearances in Italy.

John has performed all genres of vocal music including opera, oratorio, operetta, lieder and music theatre. He has been an emerging artist with the Lieder Society of Western Australia, has sung the tenor solos in oratorio with the Fremantle Chamber Orchestra and was invited to Tokyo, Japan to appear in concert for the International Foundation for Arts and Culture.

His awards encompass all of Australia’s major Eisteddfods and competitions having won the prestigious Herald Sun Aria, the Opera and Arts Support Group Scholarship and the inaugural Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award. Other prizes include the Royal Schools Music Competition, McDonald’s Operatic Aria, Opera Foundation Australia’s AUDI German Award, More Than Opera German/Australian Opera Grant, Australian National Eisteddfod, Fremantle Eisteddfod and the Alcoa Australia Singing Competition.

In 2011, John was invited to join the Opera Australia Young Artists Program. Whilst in the program, John’s roles included Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Camille in The Merry Widow, Italian Singer in Capriccio, Ballad Singer in Of Mice and Men by Carlisle Floyd, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Fourth Jew in Salome. He will also cover Nadir in The Pearl Fishers, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. The following year, John sang Ernesto in Don Pasquale in Tokyo and Grimoaldo in Rodelinda in Sydney conducted by Richard Bonynge. In 2013, he sang Fenton in Falstaff and Mayor Upfold in Albert Herring for Opera Australia.

John’s other operatic repertoire includes Ismaele in Nabucco, Die Knusperhexe in Hänsel und Gretel, the title role in Mavra by Stravinsky, Arbace in Idomeneo, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Guillot Morfontaine in Manon and Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos. In 2007, John created the role of Papa in the world premiere of Rosetta by Australian composer Frank Wood.

John Longmuir’s 2014 season for Opera Australia included Tamino in The Magic Flute, Narciso in Il turco in Italia, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Ernesto in Don Pasquale. In 2015, he sings Tamino and Don Ottavio for the national company and Almaviva for West Australian Opera.